1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for guiding an electrical handsaw at a proper angle for making cuts at selected angles, such as for example, miter joints, moldings from wood or plastic.
The apparatus in accordance with the present invention is especially beneficial in making compound cuts of molds and rafters which are produced with the help of an electrical circular saw.
In forming a miter joint, for example, two elements must be fastened together usually perpendicularly to each other with their ends cut at an angle. A conventional miter box is made in the form of a wooden or metal trough, the upright sides of which are provided with fixed or adjustable vertical slots. A saw, for example, hand saw is positioned within the slots and the work piece is placed on the bottom of the trough so that a cut at a suitable angle is made by the hand saw.
There are also known devices for guiding an electrical saw while creating a compound miter cut, one example of such devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,102 issued on May 15, 1984 for "Compound Miter Saw Stand".
The patent discloses a saw guide for making miter cuts on a work piece, the saw guide comprising a stand supporting a pair of horizontal plates at their respective end portions. A work piece travel path is defined by upright post assemblies at each side of the stand, while a track assembly and a saw cradle assembly overlies the work piece travel path, guiding opposing saws across the work piece travel path and forming pre-determined angular cuts on the end of a work piece which is positioned in the travel path.
While the saw stand in accordance with the '102 patent can be beneficial for creating miter cuts on a work piece in a factory environment, wherein roof and floor trusses are pre-fabricated and are subsequently transported to a building site. The miter saw stand in accordance with '102 patent is not portable, and can not be successfully used for creating complex cuts which require various angles of cuts such as compound cuts, molds, "cope lines" and the like. When creating such variety of angular cuts on a piece of wood, it is most beneficial to have such miter stand immediately available at the construction site, so that the necessary cuts of various angles can be made depending on the particular demand of the construction job, with a saw stand being easily transported to another construction site for performing other lumber cutting jobs.